- A mnemonic device that stands for Subject, Occasion, Audience, Purpose, and Speaker. It is a handy way to remember the various elements that make up the rhetorical situation.
- A negative term for writing designed to sway opinion rather than present information.
- A piece that imitates and exaggerates the prominent features of another; used for comic effect or ridicule.
- The deliberate use of a series of conjunctions.
- Greek for "hostile." An aggressive argument that tries to establish the superiority of one opinion over all others. Polemics generally do not concede that opposing opinions have any merit.
- One's intention or objective in a speech or piece of writing.
- A question asked more to produce an effect than to summon an answer.
- A statement that seems contradictory but is actually true.
- The speaker, voice, or character assumed by the author of a piece of writing.
- To discredit an argument, particularly a counterargument.
- The study of effective, persuasive, language use; according to Aristotle, use of the "Available means of persuasion."
- A Greek term that refers to suffering but has come to be associated with broader appeals to emotion; one of Aristotle's three rhetorical appeals (see ethos and logos).
- An aspect of context; the cause or reason for writing.
- A figure of speech that combines two contradictory terms.
- a joke exploiting the different possible meanings of a word or the fact that there are words that sound alike but have different meanings.
- instead of dealing with the actual issue, it attacks a weaker or oversimplified version of the argument
- A word, phrase, or clause that qualifies or describes another word phrase, or clause.
- Characteristic of ordinary conversation rather than formal speech or writing
- An assertion, usually supported by evidence.
- The use of tropes or figures of speech; going beyond literal meaning to achieve literary effect.